2025-09-22 09:06:19The city never truly slept. Desmond sat on the narrow cot in his dim room, staring at his trembling hands. Every heartbeat still echoed with the memory of that voice, cold, mechanical, undeniable.
[System Active.]
“System…” he whispered. “What… what do you want from me?”
No answer. Just silence, broken by the distant shuffle of footsteps outside. But then, like a tide flooding his mind, the voices came again. “bread’s gone stale again. Tomorrow, I’ll complain to the baker”
“she smiled at me today… maybe she likes me.”
“that Desmond. I saw him earlier. Talking to himself again. Crazy fool”
Desmond clutched his head. “It’s too much,” he muttered. “Too many voices, shut up, shut up!”
[System Directive: Learn control. Thought Echo requires focus. Channel, filter, select.]
“Focus?” He squeezed his eyes shut, forcing his breaths steady. He imagined shutting doors, one by one, until only one voice remained. “if the tax rises again, I’ll have nothing left”
A stranger’s despair. A single, isolated thought. Desmond’s eyes flew open. “I… did it.”
A slow, incredulous laugh escaped his lips. “I really did it.”
The next morning, he ventured outside. The streets bustled with hawkers shouting, guards patrolling, and children darting between stalls. Normally, he would slink through unseen, invisible. But today, he tested.
He brushed shoulders with a merchant. The voice flared: “…if I cheat him on weight, he’ll never know…”
Desmond blinked at the bag of grain. The man smiled nervously under his stare. “Two copper for a fair sack, boy. Best price in the square.”
“You shorted it,” Desmond said flatly.
The merchant froze. “W-what?”
“Four ounces light. You thought I wouldn’t notice.”
Gasps came from those nearby. The merchant paled, adjusted the sack, and shoved it forward. “Fine. Take it. Just… don’t make a scene.”
Desmond walked away, heart racing. For once, he wasn’t the fool, they were. But the system wasn’t silent long. [Challenge Available.]
Desmond stiffened. “What now?”
[Challenge: Gain trust. Reward: Stat boost + Affection Progression unlocked.]
“Trust? From who?”
[Target proximity detected.]
He turned, frowning. Across the square, he saw three women seated on a raised platform, guarded by armored soldiers. Their eyes were filled with everything but peace.
Whispers rippled through the crowd. “That’s the general’s daughter, dangerous one, they say.”
“The minister’s spoiled brat, look at her scowl.”
“And the other… who even cares? Just another common girl.”
Desmond’s chest tightened. The King’s decree. The forced marriages. Men choosing wives like cattle at the market.
The three women had not been chosen. Which meant they were prizes for whoever dared claim them… or burdens left behind.
[System Directive: Earn affection. Your growth depends on it.]
Desmond shook his head violently. “No. That’s insane. They don’t even know me. They’ll never”
[Refusal detected. Warning: Declining challenges reduces potential.]
The words stabbed. His stomach knotted. Decline… and remain weak. Accept… and risk everything.
A soldier’s bark cut through his thoughts. “You there! You’re breathing too close to the King’s decree. Step forward!”
Desmond froze as the guard shoved him into the open square. The crowd’s murmurs turned into chuckles.
“Of course. The nobody.”
“He? A husband? Hah!”
The guard sneered. “Well? Make your choice, boy. The law demands it.”
The three women’s eyes locked onto him. Each gaze burned differently. The general’s daughter, Lysandra, studied him coldly, like measuring a weak spot on a target. “…pathetic. But maybe I can use him. An escape route, nothing more.”
The minister’s daughter, Selene, wrinkled her nose in disdain. “…is this a joke? Me, with… him? I’d rather rot.”
The last, the quiet one, Mira, looked at him with a strange softness. “…please pick me. Please. Maybe he’s kind… maybe he’s different.”
Their thoughts struck him harder than any fist. The guard leaned closer, voice low and venomous. “Choose, or I’ll choose for you. And trust me, you won’t like it.”
Desmond’s heart hammered. Three women. Three futures. And the system whispering at the edge of his mind. [Affection Quest Initiated. Pick wisely.]
He swallowed. His voice shook, but he forced it out. “I… I choose…”
The crowd leaned in.
“…all three.”
Silence. Then outrage exploded.
“WHAT?!”
“Impossible, he’s mocking the decree!”
“The nobody’s gone mad!”
The guard shoved him. “You dare defy”
But the system’s voice boomed in his skull.
[Choice Accepted. Triple Affection Path unlocked, New Challenge: Survive the night.]
Desmond staggered back. “Survive the night?!” he hissed under his breath.
The women’s reactions cut deeper than swords. Lysandra’s lips curled into a dangerous smile, like a predator waiting for prey to tire. Selene glared at him as though he’d spat on her name. Mira… Mira’s eyes shimmered with fragile hope.
The guard growled. “Fine, boy. Take them. But mark my words, none survive defying the King’s law lightly.”
Chains unclasped. The women descended. And the whispers of the crowd followed Desmond like daggers.
That evening, in his cramped home, silence suffocated the air. Desmond stood awkwardly at the door, three women behind him.
Lysandra crossed her arms, leaning on the wall. “You’re weaker than I imagined. This will be easy.”
Selene scoffed. “Easy? More like intolerable. I refuse to share air with this… this gutter rat.”
Mira whispered, almost shyly. “Thank you… for choosing me.”
Desmond’s pulse thundered. He wanted to speak, to explain, but the system intruded:
[Challenge Directive: Earn their trust before dawn.] “What?!” he nearly shouted aloud.
The women looked at him. “What’s wrong with you?” Selene snapped.
Desmond forced a shaky smile. “N-nothing. Just… tired.”
Inside, panic screamed. How could he win over women who despised him, or worse, planned to use him? But the system didn’t care. [Time remaining: 10 hours.]
Desmond closed his eyes. This was his first challenge. His first step into survival. He had until dawn to turn disdain into something more… or lose everything before his story even began.
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Chapter 14 – After the Blast
The world was soundless at first. Only white light and the faint smell of burning dust. Then, a heartbeat. Another.Desmond’s ears caught up before his eyes did. Wind howled through the collapsed ruin. Every breath tasted of grit and smoke.He tried to move and felt pain flash through his ribs, not sharp, but deep, like someone had rung a bell inside him. “System…” he whispered hoarsely. “Status…”Nothing answered. Just static in his mind. He pushed at the broken stone on his chest until it shifted. Dim daylight leaked through a crack above him.His fingers brushed something warm, not stone. Flesh. “Mira?”A faint groan. Relief cut through the fog. He clawed through the rubble, hands bleeding on rough stone until he uncovered her face, streaked with soot but breathing.Her torch had gone out; the stub of it still clung to her fingers. Desmond hauled himself upright and scanned the wreckage. The ruin’s far wall was gone.Beyond it lay scorched earth and half-melted armor fragments, the
Chapter 13 – The Last Ten Seconds
The system’s red glyphs burned in Desmond’s vision.[CRITICAL DECISION: 10 … 9 … 8 …The hum outside was no longer a hum, it was a scream, the air itself vibrating. The ruin shook as if something enormous were breathing against its walls. Mira clutched his sleeve. “Desmond!”Lysandra’s sword hovered over the assassin’s chest. “Say it! Fight or flee!”Selene leaned in close, her breath steady even as dust rained down. “Decide, husband. Your kingdom of ruin waits.” 7 … 6 … 5 …Desmond’s heart pounded like a drum. Images flickered, Mira’s pleading eyes, Lysandra’s fierce stance, Selene’s calm venom, the assassin’s twisted grin. Enough.He raised his voice above the noise. “We fight. All of us.”The system flared gold. [Choice Locked: Fight as a Unit.][Group Synchronization + 20%. Shared Combat Protocol Activated.]The doorway exploded inward. Shadows poured through the breach, skeletal outlines of smoke and light, their eyes burning green. The temperature dropped so fast the torch gutte
Chapter 12 – The Choice and the Siege
The ruin quaked again. Dust sifted down from the ceiling. Outside, that hum swelled into a living roar. The system’s voice blared in Desmond’s skull: [Decision Required. Assassin’s Fate.]Mira’s wide eyes pleaded. “Keep him alive, please!”Lysandra’s blade glittered. “Kill him now.”Selene’s lips curved. “Use him. Then dispose of him when it suits us.”Three voices. One heartbeat. The assassin, bleeding and bound, smirked through cracked teeth. “Choose, boy. Or the Serpent chooses for you.”Desmond’s chest tightened. His head pounded with the weight of the choice. He saw the system prompt shimmering in his vision, three paths branching in front of him like a broken trident.For a heartbeat, silence. Then his voice cut through. “No more stalling.”He stepped toward the prisoner. Mira held her breath. Lysandra’s grip on her sword trembled, poised. Selene’s eyes gleamed, hungry.Desmond’s hand closed on the assassin’s chin, forcing those slit-pupiled eyes to meet his.“I keep you alive,”
Chapter 11 – The Fracture Within
The ruin still trembled with the echo of armored boots. Their sound seemed to linger, ghostlike, in the morning air. Even with the guards gone, the walls pressed close, suffocating.Desmond hadn’t moved. His chest rose and fell as though each breath weighed a stone. He could still feel the captain’s eyes on him, sharp as a blade pressed against his throat.And then Mira’s voice broke the silence. “You lied,” she whispered. “You lied to them. We should have given him over.”Her hand trembled where it clutched her cloak. “The Serpent hunts us, Desmond. The King watches us. You’re balancing fire on both hands, and”“and you’d have us hand over our only chance at answers?” Lysandra cut in, voice hard. She stood near the bound figure in the corner, one hand gripping her sword’s pommel, her eyes lit with fury. “Better to risk our necks than let the Serpent vanish into the King’s dungeons, untouchable. At least this way, we keep control.”Selene leaned against the wall, arms folded, her smil
Chapter -10- B– At the Mercy of the Crown
The first light of dawn bled across the ruin’s broken stones, gray and thin. Mira had dozed against the wall, her breathing shallow.Lysandra kept her hand on her sword even in sleep, posture tense. Selene leaned awake in the corner, eyes sharp, as if she’d expected this moment. The moment when bootsteps thundered in the street outside.Desmond stiffened, instinct dragging him upright. “Wake them,” he hissed.Mira stirred with a start as Lysandra’s eyes snapped open, hand instantly gripping her blade. Selene’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Finally. I wondered how long it would take them to arrive.”The doorless arch of the ruin flooded with armored figures. Gleaming helms caught the pale dawn. Spears lowered in unison.“By order of His Majesty, King Dorian,” barked the captain, “you are to step forward and account for last night’s disturbance.”Lysandra stepped into position before Desmond, blade drawn, voice sharp. “Disturbance? We defended ourselves.”The captain’s eyes flicked to
Chapter 10-A – Shattered Silence
The torch had burned low, leaving the ruin steeped in long shadows. The assassin lay bound in the corner, chest rising in shallow, uneven rhythm.But the room’s real weight wasn’t the prisoner, it was the silence between Desmond and the women.Mira broke it first. Her voice was soft, fragile. “Desmond… what was that? The green light, the voice…”Desmond rubbed his temples. His skull still throbbed from the battle in his mind. “The Serpent. Or something tied to it. Whatever it was, it wanted inside.”Mira shuddered, arms wrapping around herself. “I felt it too. Like… like a snake in my veins.”Selene scoffed, though it lacked her usual bite. “Convenient. Very convenient. The assassin whispers nonsense, you groan dramatically, and suddenly you’re the hero who saved us all?”Lysandra bristled. “You saw the glow in his eyes. You heard the voice. Don’t you dare call that nonsense.”Selene’s gaze sharpened. “And you don’t dare ignore that power is dangerous. He’s carrying something none of
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